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permanent memorial to General Brock was planned
soon after the war ended. The original tower remained incomplete
until 1840 when in one of the last acts of the 1837 Rebellion
an explosive charge was set off in the base of the column. Extensive
damage was done by the explosion and it stimulated immediate action
to repair the damage.
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"Lett I see has
blown up the monument. This is a vandal trick - yet I blame
him not. I would to God - I would to heaven that they would
rise again."
Extract
from an original letter from James Mackenzie
to William Lyon Mackenzie (Rochester, N.Y.), May 1, 1840
Mackenzie - Lindsey fonds
Reference Code: F 37, MU 1806
Archives of Ontario
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Click
to see a larger image (130K)
S.E. view of Brock's Monument on Queenston Heights
as it appeared on May 9th. A.D.: 1841, [ca. 1841]
Thomas Glegg fonds
Drawing
Reference Code: F 596
Archives of Ontario
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The original Brock’s monument after the explosion
and the artists impression of its restoration.
A new committee was struck and charged with the responsibility
of raising funds to design and build a new monument a few hundred
metres further north. Contributions came in slowly, including
subscriptions from First Nations bands and militia
units and the government of the United Province of Canada.
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The document below is a memorial from the “River
Credit Indians” expressing their shock at the destruction
of the original Brock’s monument pledging £10
from their annual land payments towards reconstruction.
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Click
to see a larger image (435K)
Memorial of the "River Credit Indians", January 2, 1841
Brock Monument Committee fonds
Letter
Reference Code: F 1151, box MU 296
Archives of Ontario |

Click
to see a larger image (388K)
Memorial of the "River Credit Indians", January 2, 1841
Brock Monument Committee fonds
Letter
Reference Code: F 1151, box MU 296
Archives of Ontario |
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It was only in 1852 that sufficient funds were available to
commission an architect and begin construction.
William Thomas of Toronto was the successful
architect and received a prize of £25,
in addition to the fees for the design and construction of the
project.
As noted in the handbill...
"there is only
one column, either ancient or modern, in Europe that exceeds
the entire height of the proposed Brock Monument, which
is that erected in London by Sir Christopher Wren, in commemoration
of the great fire in 1666."
Brock
Monument Committee fonds
Broadsheet
Reference Code: F 1151, box MU 296
Archives of Ontario |
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Click
to see a larger image (448K)
The Brock Monument, 1853
Brock Monument Committee fonds
Broadsheet
Reference Code: F 1151, box MU 296
Archives of Ontario |
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![[Broadsheet announcing the rededication of Brock's Monument], 1853 [Broadsheet announcing the rededication of Brock's Monument], 1853](pics/f_662_broadsheet_brock_270.jpg) |
Four years later, the new monument was completed.
The rededication of the monument marked by the interment of
Brock and his aide-de-camp,
was carried out with a pomp designed to impress the public with
the sacrifice it represented.
Click
to see a larger image (221K)
[Broadsheet announcing the rededication of Brock's Monument],
1853
William Hamilton Merritt family fonds
Poster
Reference Code: F 662, box MU 5850, package 8
Archives of Ontario |
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Shown to the right is Brock's monument as it appears today,
although the photograph was taken in 1923.
Modelled on Nelson's Column in London, it was conceived as the
primary monument to the defence of Upper Canada.
When he visited the site in 1920, M. O. Hammond noted in
his diary:
"up lovely road
to where Brock rode to victory & death and now lined
by peach orchards & fine houses. At Queenston Heights
we tarried & admired the great monument & the view."
Diary
entry, October 9,1920
M. O. Hammond fonds
Reference Code: F 1075
Archives of Ontario |
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Click
to see a larger image (76K)
Brock monument, Queenston, July 8, 1923
M. O. Hammond
M. O. Hammond fonds
Black and white negative
Reference Code: F 1075, H653
Archives of Ontario, I0001142 |
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